"Sciences Po, une histoire coloniale"

This exhibition was produced by the Sciences Po Library, with the assistance of the Centre d'histoire de Sciences Po (CHSP). It is based on elements of the exhibition ‘Sciences Po, une histoire coloniale’, presented in the Library's showcases in 2017, and the documentary file that extended it online.

At the initiative of Jakob Vogel (CHSP), it was presented at the Center of Excellence in French and Francophone Studies at the University of California, Berkeley in 2024.

Teacher-researchers behind the project: Pap Ndiaye and Jakob Vogel, with their Master 2 History research students (2017)

Exhibition design: Muriel Dennefeld, Sylvaine Detchemendy, Myriam Tazi

Graphic design: Sandrine Lancereau

Editing: Emma Albrand and Carole Giry

Loan of objects in the vitrine: Léandre Mandard

Unless otherwise stated, the books and typed lectures whose covers are digitised in
the exhibition all come from the collections of the Sciences Po Library.

To find out more about the exhibition
Behind the scenes of the exhibition: Sciences Po, a colonial history - discover the objects from Léandre Mandard's personal collection, currently on display in the Centre d'histoire.

See the exhibition: CHSP reception hall, 1st floor, building K,
campus 1 Saint Thomas d'Aquin. Free access

‘Eight years after it was first presented in our house library, we are delighted to be able to present the Sciences Po colonial history exhibition again at the History Centre. This exhibition summarises the results of a three-year research project undertaken by myself and Pap N'Diaye with students from Sciences Po's Master of History programme from 2014 to 2017. It was prepared with the support of colleagues from the Sciences Po library and archives, in particular Muriel Dennefeld and Sylvaine Detchemendy. The panels have been updated for their presentation at the University of California at Berkeley in October 2024, and will be on display in the Centre d'histoire, along with a display case showing some of the archive collections and some of the ‘colonial science’ works taught at the Ecole Libre de Sciences Politiques.

The exhibition shows the contribution made by Sciences Po in training the future administrative and economic elites of the French colonial empire. It traces the development of colonial education at ELSP from the creation of a ‘colonial section’ in 1886 to decolonisation in the late 1950s. The various panels in the exhibition highlight the importance of the ‘colonial sciences’ in the School's teaching despite the dissolution of the ‘colonial section’ in 1893, as well as the major changes in the focus of courses after the Second World War under the banner of Decolonisation.’

(credits: CHSP)